There is a pond at Longstock called Dragonfly Pond and it isn’t misnamed. I spent a bit of time watching the dragonflies skimming across the surface and then one seemed to be busy laying eggs beneath the leaves on the water’s surface. I switched to video and got the following clip. Tons of dragonfly larvae will, no doubt, hatch out. How many of them will survive to become an adult like this?
There is a lake at Bloedel Reserve that sits near the main house. The grass leading down to it makes for a nice spot to rest but it also seems to have made for a good habitat for dragonflies. There were loads of them scooting around at the edge of the water and, while they were easily spooked as I got closer, if I sat for a while, they would resume their normal activities. Getting the camera to focus on them was not always reliable but modern autofocus is a wonderful thing. These were some of the results. I don’t have an image of how damp my pants were after sitting on the grass for a while, thankfully.
When I lived in the UK, I don’t remember seeing dragonflies at all. They may well have been there but I didn’t notice them. Moving to the US, there were dragonflies all of the place and I was immediately fascinated by them. Of course, over time, I got used to them being everywhere so stopped paying attention. However, when I have visitors from the UK, they are taken with them in the same way I originally was.
When mum was here, we went down to Juanita Bay to have a look around. It was a lot hotter than it had been on any of my previous visits and it was also popular with bugs. I got bitten a few times which has never happened there before. I guess the bugs meant the dragonflies were happy and we saw plenty of them. Here are a few shots I got of them when they landed. I have yet to get anything useful of them while flying. They are quite tricky to track!